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Spectre Rebellion
|prev=Brood War |conc= |next=Second Great War |image= |imgsize= |imgdesc= |conflict=Interbellum |campaign= |date=2502-2503 |place=Koprulu Sector (Altara, Korhal and Gehenna Station) |result=*Zerg repelled from Altara *Spectre rebellion destroyed *Cole Bennett killed *Gabriel Tosh and remaining spectres flee to Haji |battles=Battle of Altara Battle for Augustgrad |side1= Project Shadowblade Umojan Protectorate Nova Squadron |side2= Terran Dominion : 22nd Dominion Marine Division : Imperial Guard |side3= Zerg Swarm |side4= |side5= |side6= |commanders1= General Cole Bennett Dylanna Okyl Kath Toom Gabriel Tosh Lio Travski |commanders2= Emperor Arcturus Mengsk Wrangler Malcolm Kelerchian Major Spaulding Agent Nova Terra |commanders3= |commanders4= |commanders5= |commanders6= |forces1= |forces2= |forces3= |forces4= |forces5= |forces6= |casual1=Near total |casual2=Over 100 Annihilators Full squad of ghost operatives |casual3= |casual4= |casual5= |casual6= |concattop= }} The Spectre Rebellion was a covert battle between Project Shadowblade and the Terran Dominion.Kenyon, Nate. (September 27, 2011). StarCraft: Ghost: Spectres. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). ISBN 978-1439-10938-0. Background Jackson Hauler During the time of the Terran Confederacy, a man with powerful psionic powers was taken to the . The "brain-panning" didn't "take" due to his high PI rating of 8.5. The Program wanted to eliminate them. However, he managed to escape. He murdered an enlisted man named Jackson Hauler and took his name and place. His psionic memory-altering abilities, plus some forgery, made this simple. Hauler eventually became an officer and rose to lead Nova Squadron. In this position, he kept his psionic abilities a secret. Following Mengsk's Uprising, Hauler proved his loyalty and usefulness to the Terran Dominion. In 2501, the Dominion discovered a planet, Demon's Fair, with Tal'darim protoss ruins and a strange gas, terrazine, which enhanced psionic potential. Hauler put himself on a "secret assignment", which allowed him to disappear and play the role of Cole Bennett, a scientist assigned to the secret project, Shadowblade. The project was led by General Horace Warfield. Bennett experimented on himself. Reports on what happened next vary. According to some, Bennett was driven mad by the gas and killed most of the team members. Warfield only barely managed to escape. The other team members were all in jail (three of them) or dead. According to Hauler, the Dominion grew frightened of the project and tried to eliminate it. Hauler faked Bennett's death and escaped. Eventually Hauler returned to lead Nova Squadron, but was left feeling a desire for revenge against the Dominion. The Ghost Academy Gabriel Tosh was a hard-line Terran Dominion supporter, and also a psychic. Prior to 2501 he joined the and became the leader of Team Blue, a training team. His team took part in the Battle of Shi. Other former Team Blue members included Delta Emblock, Nova Terra, Kath Toom and Lio Travski. During the battle, Terra unleashed a mind blast, catching Tosh. This changed him physically (causing his eyes to become mostly milky white) but mostly mentally. He could no longer be sensed by other psychics unless he wished to, his mind could not be read, and he was immune to memory wipes. Tosh's forbidden romantic relationship with Terra was severed, and this, along with the circumstances of the battle, turned him bitterly against the Dominion. Tosh took up a relationship with Toom instead. Together they discovered that her father had not leaked information on Sector 9, a secret project, as the government believed. However, he committed suicide. Fearing he would be killed for his secret, Tosh either escaped or faked his death in one of his first missions. His existence was kept secret from even Arcturus Mengsk, but still people tried to kill him. After escaping from the Ghost Academy, Travski used his abilities to save Tosh's life several times. Meanwhile, the Academy AI, "Sparky", flew out of control. Travski was "killed", but due to his technopathic abilities, his mind persisted in cyberspace. Travski kept his fate secret from most of his former friends. Another Ghost Academy inmate was Colin Phash, a young boy, and son of former Senator Corbin Phash. The elder Phash unleashed critical commentary on the Academy, which had taken custody of his son, along with renegade reporter Michael Liberty. Phash eventually arranged for his son to escape. The Phashes took shelter in the Umojan Protectorate. The Alliance While outside the Academy, Tosh learned of Shadowblade. He met a man whose brother was at New Folsom Prison. The prisoner had been brain-panned, but it didn't "take" (due to terrazine exposure), but the prisoner kept this secret. Tosh spent months looking for terrazine until he discovered it on Altara. A few weeks later he met Cole Bennett. Bennett knew of Sector 9, and Tosh knew of Corbin Phash. Tosh's connections to Phash allowed them to hatch an arrangement with the Umojan Protectorate. With the Protectorate's technology, information stolen from Sector 9, and their stolen Gehenna Station, a cloaked battle platform, they would unleash attacks against the Dominion with terrazine-modified terrans—spectres. Tosh began kidnapping ghosts and introducing them to terrazine, transforming them into spectres. By 2503 Shadowblade had 24 of them, including himself. Bennett and Tosh's spectres planned to capture Arcturus Mengsk. Michael Liberty would record his confession to crimes, after which he would be done away with. Bennett would then frame Tosh as the leader of the spectres who destabilized the Dominion, and leave him to the mercy of the fallout. Bennett planned to then meet with other powerful leaders, and would use his mind-influencing psionics to convince them he was the correct choice for the next leader of the Dominion. Bennett didn't bargain in good faith. He intended to let Tosh take the fall after what would happen to the Dominion. He would then rule with an iron fist. Tosh believed the spectres would protect the new Dominion's rule and enforce peace instead. Prelude Project Shadowblade began a secret campaign of attacks to weaken the Dominion from the cloaked Gehenna Station. The station generally traveled in a straight line, with the spectres making attacks from short-range from the station. The survivors tended to be "brain-panned" in a manner similar to neural resocialization. UNN referred to these attacks as UED attacks. There were rumors of a station which could not be picked up by scans. Renegade reporter Michael Liberty was picking up on the story, but Mengsk was blocking him, for the moment. Mengsk realized his regular channels had been compromised and would make tackling the secret threat a priority. A ghost named Kath Toom was sent to investigate rumors of UED terrorist activity near Oasis, Altara, although her orders were in fact fakes created by Travski. Several kilometers from Oasis, Toom discovered a modified refinery sitting over a big rift and mine. She was attacked by a mysterious attacker, a spectre named Dylanna Okyl, who beat her up and captured her. Toom was whisked away to Gehenna Station for spectre conversion. Tosh intended to reunite Team Blue. Wrangler Malcolm Kelerchian was dispatched to collect Toom. He learned that Mengsk had not sent the order for Toom to investigate Altara. Kelerchian was caught when a refinery exploded on the planet, causing a strange gas to leak the surface, and was trapped with the zerg swarmed the planet. Course of the War Battle of Altara Nova Squadron, based out of the Palatine, and Nova Terra, a powerful ghost, were dispatched to Altara in order to rescue Kelerchian. A swarm of zerg reached the distress site first. Terra convinced Hauler to place her on Altara before the rest of Nova Squadron. He told her she had an hour. Terra discovered the zerg landing on a strange green rift and collected some of the gas leaking out of it to analyze it. She made it to the now-destroyed refinery. As she continued to scout the zerg, Grizzlies carrying Nova Squadron troops landed early. These troops were led by Lt. Chet Ward, a veteran officer, but with little experience fighting the zerg. He grudgingly followed Terra's advice, but believed the terrans had the advantage of surprise. Roaches and zerglings emerged from the ground and attacked the marines. Terra instructed Ward to send his men to a high point and create a crossfire on her signal. Terra baited the zerg into the crossfire. Ward was then told to retreat to rocky terrain near the Grizzlies, in the hopes the zerg could not burrow there. Meanwhile, Terra located the November and discovered the injured Kelerchian within. The ship's gun was still working. Unfortunately, her request for medical evacuation was interrupted by mutalisks attacking the marines. Hauler sent heavy reinforcements, but made rescuing the wrangler the top priority. The marines were cut off from the Grizzlies by banelings and mutalisks. Terra flew the November over to them and used the ship's guns to take out mutalisks. After she got out, a hydralisk ripped her mask off. Terra was now exposed to the strange gas. Terra helped the marines out of their current predicaments, but their retreat was then cut off by hydralisks. Terra used her powers to blow open part of the rift as the marines finally made it to the Grizzlies. Ward had been unwilling to abandon her, despite his misgivings, but Terra reminded him that she knew his secrets, and if she failed, those secrets would die with her. Terra finished off the zerg attack with a massive mind blast. The Investigation Back on Altara, Terra worked with Agent X72341R, a specialist in stealth mind-reading, and secretly a spectre. He hadn't found any evidence that the UED had been present. Meanwhile, other ghosts would arrive soon. As the two split up and investigated further, Terra found herself the target of telepathic taunts; X72341R was able to cloak in a manner which prevented Terra from detecting him. Working with Kelerchian, whose minor psionic powers enabled him to find other psychics, they tried to find this hidden foe. Terra was attacked by a cloaked X72341R, but when she turned the tables, the spectre fled. They found X72341R at the door, looking beat up. They also stumbled across a strange-acting orphan girl, Lila, who told them that the attack had been performed by spectres and "Shadowblade". They brought Lila as a witness to the dropships at Oasis. Hauler told Terra the girl might have been brain-panned. Evidence of the zerg attack was covered up, but the refinery could not be salvaged. The other ghosts—Lethal, Rook, The Veteran, Rip and Guns—arrived, and met with Kelerchian and Terra. Kelerchian assigned them the nicknames, and he named Agent X72341R "Bones". Kelerchian's analysis showed the attacks had occurred from short range in a straight line. The meeting was interrupted by the arrival of Major Spaulding via his battlecruiser; he was now the commander of the Annihilators. He had previous history with Terra, blaming her for the death of his former commanding officer, Major Esmerelda Ndoci. Spaulding wasn't happy with the meeting and stormed off. Meanwhile, Terra was having trouble focusing due to terrazine-induced hallucinations, which included elements of memories that had been previously wiped. Dr. Shaw told her that terrazine regenerated cells damaged by memory wipes and gave her heightened powers, raising a psychic's PI by a full point or more. She noticed him trying to hide things from her, and he fled from her presence. The Battle for Augustgrad Gabriel Tosh collected a team of spectres—Dylanna Okyl, Sloan, Caleb, Jara and Karl, all former ghosts. At Mengsk's Palace, Lio Travski was able to shut down the computerized defenses, as well as shut down almost all communications. Breaking in, Okyl suffered hallucinations and began killing guards. Travski announced that he hadn't been able to prevent a message from leaving through a private line. Mengsk hid in a psi-shielded panic room. Jackson Hauler put Nova Terra in charge of the first segment of the battle. She would take the ghosts with her, while Lt. Chet Ward would follow up, and then heavier forces. The Annihilators had wished to attack immediately, but Hauler said it was too risky with the communication blackout. The ghosts were dropped off at the outskirts of Augustgrad and used vultures to approach the palace. She didn't know that Tosh was already targeting her. Terra was telepathically taunted by "Bones". He hid, cloaked, near a fountain, but Terra's terrazine-enhanced senses let her detect him. She killed him with a mental attack. That's when Tosh, Caleb, Jara and Karl arrived, cloaked. They disabled the ghosts' suits. Several of the ghosts were grappled. The ghosts were at a disadvantage at first, and Tosh mentally introduced himself to Terra. She rebuked him and eventually was able to drive the spectres away. As Terra entered the palace, however, Dylanna Okyl ambushed her, spraying her with terrazine and stabbing her in the back. Terra woke up injured. Tosh asked her to get to Mengsk. However, marines began entering the palace, prompting Tosh to flee. All of Terra's ghosts were either dead or taken by the spectres. After a medic treated Terra's wounds, Kelerchian and Mengsk held a private meeting with her. Aboard the Palatine, an irate Major Spaulding accused Terra of being a spectre. Dr. Shaw provided supporting evidence of her terrazine affliction, and Kelerchian was accused of manipulating the situation, such as blowing up the Altara refinery, allegedly in order to hide evidence. Lt. Ward gave an edited account of Terra's threat against him on Altara, making it nearly impossible for her to refute it. Spaulding wanted to take custody of Kelerchian and Terra and wanted to run things from his own ship. Hauler, however, threw him off the Palatine and didn't fall for Ward's story. The Battle of Gehenna Station Kelerchian and Terra studied reports on Gehenna Station, discovering it had destroyed a space platform over Maltair IV, killing hundreds of marines. The Annihilators, claiming they had fought a pirate ship nearby, had arrived in less than an hour. As the duo discussed the possible treachery, gas seeped into their room, causing them to fall unconscious. Kelerchian was transported to Gehenna Station. Hauler and Terra talked. Terra realized that Hauler was also General Bennett, but couldn't attack him as he had dosed her with anti-psi neuroleptics and also removed her ghost suit. He told her about the background of Project Shadowblade. He showed Terra a holo of Kelerchian, being threatened by a marine. Unless Terra agreed to work with him, Hauler would have Kelerchian killed. The Palatine would return to Korhal, where Terra would capture Mengsk and force him to deliver a confession which would eventually result in Hauler being put into power. Terra was handed to Dr. Shaw, in order to remove her neural implant. However, Dr. Shaw intended to slowly kill her, as when she was a child, her powers had killed his parents. Shaw drugged her, but Lio Travski was able to reach her through the electrodes. Travski shut off the drugs. Terra was able to escape, killing Shaw and the marines. She slipped away. The November was launched, while the Palatine's tracking and comm systems shut down by Travski. In fact, Terra was not aboard, having convinced Travski to create a false life sign from the November. Terra also contacted the Annihilators, telling of the situation, and planned a joint attack with them. Benett was fooled. Frustrated, he took an ahead of schedule hit of terrazine. The partially disabled Palatine came to Gehenna Station. Tosh believed Travski had turned traitor and had disabled the Palatine. Tosh had an EMP system which could be used on Travski for moments like this. Once communications were established, Bennett discovered that Tosh was more unstable than previously though. He wondered if they were dosing themselves with terrazine properly, and whether they were using any jorium. Bennett investigated the November once it was caught, and flew into a rage at Terra's deceit. Travski warned Terra that her deception had been detected. Terra slipped into Gehenna. She ran into a crying Kath Toom. Terra told her what had happened. Toom was still in love with Tosh, however, and the two fought. Terra used her telekinesis to knock Toom unconscious. She then stole Toom's needler gun and spectre suit. Project Shadowblade began hunting Terra. Bennett discovered the injured Toom. He used telekinesis to destroy her brain, as part of a plot to frame Terra for Toom's death. Tosh learned of Toom's "injury". He ran into Dylanna Okyl, who told him that Terra had killed Toom. Tosh psionically lashed out, killing Okyl. Terra slipped into Kelerchian's cell and freed him. Travski told them of the plot to frame her. Travski manipulated the lights, enabling Terra to escape. Outside she fought Lt. Ward, several marines, and two spectres. Terra and Kelerchian eventually won the battle. Lt. Ward admitted to the murder in Hudderstown before Terra killed him. She also learned a little about Bennett's tactics from him. The station came under fire. Captain Rourke reported that Gehenna's weapons were down. Bennett believed Travski was behind this and ordered Rourke to set off the EMP. Rourke did so. Major Spaulding of the Annihilators contacted them; it was his battlecruiser which had begun the assault. Terra tried to reach the Palatine, but Hauler intercepted her. He used psionics to daze Kelerchian and tried to use his telepathic powers to charm Terra, but she eventually snapped out of it, remembering he was also General Bennett. He cloaked and escaped. Bennett created an illusion of Lila to lure Terra, separating her from Kelerchian, which left her vulnerable to Bennett's pyrokinesis attack. Terra fended the attack off, but Bennett was able to cut her mask and force her to decloak. He then began shooting at her, forcing Terra to throw blast doors at him in order to escape. Terra found herself among rows of "stasis chambers", many of which were occupied. Bennett told her these were psi indoctrinators, used to modify the brains of people with even the slightest psionic talent to become powerful weapons. Resocialized terrans were being made psychic, and became teeps close to but not at the level of ghosts. Bennett could even control the victims from anywhere. Bennett threatened to release them, but Terra called his bluff. He blew up some of the equipment in order to escape. Kelerchian arrived at the scene, and General Bennett ambushed and grabbed him. He told Terra to get into an indoctrinator tank, or he would attack her like he had Toom. Terra got in. While there, Travski contacted her. He had survived the EMP attack. She told him to feed footage of Bennett's admission of murder to Tosh. An angry Tosh barged in. As he and Bennett used their psionic powers against each other, Terra was able to use her own powers to throw a stalactite at Bennett, killing him. Terra and Kelerchian fled to the November before Spaulding would begin firing nuclear weapons at the station. Travski sent her a message, saying he would go into the datastream. Meanwhile, Tosh took Toom's body into the Palatine, along with six indoctrinator chambers. He didn't realize that Toom was dead. The hallucination of Grandma Tosh told Tosh to travel to his home planet of Haji. There he would wait until the time was right to rebuild the spectre rebellion. Spaulding launched a nuclear attack, destroying the station. Epilogue By 2504, a number had been captured by Nova Terra, ending up in New Folsom Prison.Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Mission: Wings of Liberty, Breakout (in English). 2010-07-27.Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Mission: Wings of Liberty, Ghost of a Chance (in English). 2010-07-27. Tosh meanwhile saw the outbreak of the Second Great War as the chance he needed to rebuild the spectre program, and contacted Jim Raynor to help him resurrect the program and bring down Mengsk.Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Mission: Wings of Liberty, The Devil's Playground (in English). 2010-07-27. References Category:Interbellum battles Category:Wars